A home help for eight days after giving birth? Why Dutch maternity care is the envy of the world

Everyone who gives birth in the Netherlands has the legal right to a kraamzorg to help with everything from breastfeeding to laundry. How do these new mums find it?

To new parents processing the shock of delivery and swimming in hormones, newborns can feel like a tiny, terrifying mystery; unexploded ordinance in a crib. “We were totally unprepared,” says Odilia. Neither she or her husband had ever changed a nappy and had no idea the baby needed feeding every three hours. “If you’re a new mum or dad, you have no idea,” recalls Anouk, a new mother. “I’m a doctor,” says Zarah, another new mother, incredulously. “So, you would expect that I’d know something, and I knew some things, but you really don’t have any clue.” For Giulia, an expat living far from the support of family and friends, a traumatic birth left her physically and mentally reeling. “I was running on adrenaline for days and days,” she recalls. The delicate process of caring for her premature son could easily have become overwhelming.

The difference for these new parents, compared to the rest of us, is that they gave birth in the Netherlands. That meant help was instantly at hand in the form of the kraamzorg, or maternity carer. Everyone who gives birth in the Netherlands, regardless of their circumstances, has the legal right – covered by social insurance – to support from a maternity carer for the following week.